MOTACILLID®. 139 
slightly tinged and speckled with very dull brownish 
yellow, but they vary slightly both in size and 
colour. 
GREYHEADED Waaeraln, Motacilla flava. I have 
not met with this species myself in the county: 
the two I have in my collection were bought of 
Mrs. Turle, the birdstuffer at Taunton, and said to 
have been killed near that place. Ihave also been 
informed that in some parts of the county it is 
considered more common than the Yellow Wagtail 
(M. Rayi), next to be described, for which it has 
frequently been mistaken. 
On the Continent, where this bird is very com- 
mon, it is said to inhabit wet springy places in 
moist meadows and the gravelly edges of rivers; 
and in such places it finds its favourite food, which 
consists mostly of aquatic insects, flies, moths and 
small green caterpillars. 
The nest appears to be placed in a variety of 
situations,—in holes in the ground, amongst roots 
of trees by the sides of ditches, and on the boggy 
parts of heaths,—almost always in moist situations : 
it is composed of coarse grass, moss and pieces of 
heath, and lined with fine grass, roots, moss and 
hair. 
The adult male has the beak black; irides dusky 
brown; head, ear-coverts and nape darkish grey; 
there is a dull white line over the eye and ear- 
coverts ; back, scapulars and tail-coverts olive-green, 
